Council to monitor new school placing requests

A new primary school in East Dunbartonshire is to have a roll of around 560 pupils, who will be accommodated in 20 classrooms.

As consultation continues around the development and design of the new school for Lenzie, it has been agreed to restrict placing requests where necessary to manage the school roll figures.

Lenzie Primary and Lenzie Moss Primary are being closed with a new school to be built on the Lenzie Moss Primary School site. The new school is scheduled to open during session 2016-17.

A spokesperson for East Dunbartonshire Council said the size of the school was determined by long term projections, which showed that the combined roll was expected to stay around this level over coming years.

According to the council, both schools have been ‘significantly under-occupied’ for many years, which has meant large numbers of placing requests have been granted. As a result, the current combined school roll is 578, with placing requests representing an average of 38 per cent of the P1 roll.

“This was, of course, one of the factors which informed the council’s decision to create one new building for both school communities.

“With such high levels of placing requests being granted each year to children living outwith the catchment area, it is very likely that to achieve the target roll, we will need to take measures now. Where necessary we will reduce the number of placing requests that are granted in the time before the new school opens.

“This is a proper and fair approach to ensure the new school offers the very best learning experience to its pupils.”

Current placing requests for school session 2015/16 have not yet been decided, so it’s not yet known how many are likely to be accepted. There will be no change to how placing requests between the two existing schools are handled.

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